Figure 39 



Employment of Natural Scientists and Engineers, by Sector, 1960 and 1970 



I960 



Percent distribution 



1970 



Percent increase. 1960 to 1970 



99",-, 



SOURCE National Science Foundation 



Colleges & Other nonprofit 

 universities institutions 



research scientists decreased steadily, from 3.5 

 percent in 1966 to 2.5 percent in 1971. How- 

 ever, because of larger total enrollments, the 

 absolute number of students intending to 

 pursue this career remained at about the same 

 level. Interest in engineering careers decreased 

 from 9.0 to 5.3 percent over the same period. 

 Although college freshmen frequently change 

 their career interests, such changes have been 

 generally away from science and engineering.' 



This early indicator becomes more significant 

 when related to fields selected by junior-year 

 undergraduates for their major area of study. 

 While total junior-year undergraduate enroll- 

 ments increased by 7.6 percent between the fall 

 of 1970 and the fall of 1971, fewer students 

 chose majors in physics, chemistry, engi- 

 neering, and mathematics, while basic social 

 science, other physical science, and life science 

 majors increased; applied social science students 

 grew markedly (figure 41). 



-' American Council on Education, Four Yean After College 

 Entry. ACE Research Reports, Vol. 8, no. 1, March loys. 



Similar trends are evident in terms of enroll- 

 ments for advanced degrees. Annual data from 

 the Office of Education indicate that total enroll- 

 ment for advanced degrees in science and engi- 

 neering fields more than doubled between 1960- 

 70. However, such enrollment, as a percent of 

 that in all fields, remained constant at about 38 

 percent until 1963, before declining steadily to 

 31 percent in the fall of 1970. Engineering and 

 the physical sciences accounted for most of this 

 decline. 



Related data, though not strictly comparable 

 with those of the Office of Education, indicate 

 some recent trends in graduate enrollment. Data 

 collected by the National Science Foundation 

 from 2,579 Ph.D. -granting departments showed 

 a decline of 7.1 percent in first-year, full-time 

 science and engineering graduate students from 

 fall 1969 to fall 1971, with most of this change 

 occurring in the last year. In the same period, the 

 number of full- and part-time graduate students 

 in these fields declined by 3.7 percent. The over- 

 all change in first-year, full-time students 

 includes greater-than-average declines in 

 mathematics and the physical and social sciences. 



53 



